How is this ban going to reduce obesity? Unless they limit the amount of food that people can consume while eating out, I don't see how this is going to help.

Sugary drinks are fattening, but so are a lot of other things like fried foods, mayonaise, ice cream, butter, etc. When people are eating out, let them decide for themselves. I can see something like this being implemented in a school setting, but not in deli's, fast food places, restaurants, etc.

The measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic beverages; it would not extend to beverages sold in grocery or convenience stores.

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Whew. I can still visit NYC. I need my diet pop.

I know people go on and on and on and on and on and on about those folks who buy a Big Mac and then a Diet coke, but do you know how many calories are in a Coke? It makes a difference. Diet soda allows for the occasional treat in a person's diet. Besides, diet coke tastes better than regular coke.

I don't see this affecting restaurants too much. The glasses aren't that big and they're usually refillable, anyway.

I know people go on and on and on and on and on and on about those folks who buy a Big Mac and then a Diet coke, but do you know how many calories are in a Coke? It makes a difference. Diet soda allows for the occasional treat in a person's diet. Besides, diet coke tastes better than regular coke.

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I definately like diet soda better. I just think people should be able to make their own decision about what size soda they want.

My main concern about Coke is other possible harmful consequences, such as osteoporosis. And there is talks about artificial sweetener and cancer. I used to live on Coke. No exaggeration, 90% of my water intake was through Coke (regular Coke only, I don't touch diet anything. And thankfully no need to so far ).

Two years ago I decided to be healthy, (ha!) and quit Coke cold turkey. Now I only drink it occasionally when I go out to lunch with friends. Still love it, but I have since discovered water doesn't taste that awful either. Back then if I had to run to grocery store at midnight it was because I ran out of essentials, like Coke or toilet paper. These days, only toilet paper gets the honor.

Weight issues are not about what one eats. Weight issues are not about how much one eats. Weight issues are about why one eats calorie-heavy foods.

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Not sure I agree. All three play a role in being overweight and especially in losing weight!

But Bloombergs plan sounds like a piece of garbage! I think it's safe to say he's taking the "you can eat/drink something "unhealthy" as long as it's in small amounts" a bit too far. What does it matter if there are only smaller drinks available? Then people drink more of the sugary stuff at home. Now there's something gained... (I guess the restaurants/stores would gain something, however, if people buy more drinks because they're smaller...)

So they can't sell the standard 20 oz. bottles of Coke anymore? Okay ... so I'll just buy two 12 oz. cans instead of one 20 oz. bottle of soda and now I'm consuming 24 ozs. of soda versus 20 oz. Yea. Brilliant plan. Seems to me the only thing this will do is increase the profits for the soda companies because people will now simple buy two smaller bottles. I know I would.

Weight issues are not about what one eats. Weight issues are not about how much one eats. Weight issues are about why one eats calorie-heavy foods.

Bloomberg is showing how clueless he is.

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No you are wrong. Weight issues are about how much you eat, what you eat and when you eat it. If you eat 100g of pasta is not the same as eating 100g of white bread. The pasta has a longer glycemic curve, that means that you body needs a lot of time to burn the pasta, and you won't feel hungry for hours because your body is still using the energy of the pasta and doesn't need more. White bread has a shorter glycemic curve, and your body will need less time to use the energy that comes from that food. You will feel hungry in a shorter time because the energy of white bread lasts less than the one of pasta. So if for lunch you eat pasta, you will feel hungry at dinner. If you eat white bread, you will feel hungry after a few hours, and you will feel the need to eat before dinner.
Every food has a glycemic curve, which is determined by the nature of the food and the way it has been processed. For example, and apple has a quite long glycemic curve. If you blend it, it will be shorter. If you drink just apple juice, without the fibers of the fruit, the curve will last a few minutes. It means that you won't feel hungry for five minutes, while if you had eaten just the apple, you would have felt hungry after a couple of hours.
And I was just talking about an apple juice, which only contains the water and unprocessed sugar that is in an apple. A coke contains about 1/3 of sugar and 2/3 of water, plus colours and flavourings. Therefore, if you drink 300g of coke (way less than half a litre), you are eating 100g of sugar.
Another example is that if you eat something at lunch, is not like eating it in the evening, because after lunch you work/study/play a sport, while after dinner you just sleep.
Another thing I'd like to point out is that eating a lot/junk food and not getting fat does not entitle us to eat it anyway. I've heard lots of thin girls saying that they were eating junk food every day and not getting fat at all. It doesn't mean that your body won't later suffer because of that. Eating junk food for years does not just mean that we will get fat, but we will find the real results of that after decades, when all the junk that we have accumulated in our body (which won't be young any more) will cause tons of different illnesses, and it will be too late to change that situation. We are what we eat.
IMO what the mayor did is better than nothing. Genegri, I'm happy that you quit drinking that much coke. Your body will thank you in the next years

From the article: "The measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic beverages; it would not extend to beverages sold in grocery or convenience stores."

So, in other words, you can still be a drunk. Just not a fat drunk.

Can't you just see it in a few years. Obesity has been outlawed. Authorities go door to door arresting people for being too fat, and imprison them. While in prison, they are put on strict diets and excercise programs. The only way to serve out your sentence is to lose weight to your prescribed accpetable size.

People begin hiding out in their homes, in fear of being caught for being too fat. Neighbors begin turning in neighbors when they are seen outdoors displaying their fat.

Wow. Nanny State. I'm over being told what to eat. One day potato is super evil starch food the next I'm reading some article about how they're a super food. Pasta is evil then it isn't. Fat is evil and lard is difficult to find but you can find all sorts of cooking oil. Rice is eaten in the bucketloads in some countries and yet somehow we're killing ourselves eating rice. Meh I like a bit of everything and probably over indulge in sugars etc. Oh and I like coke.

Also pingu you could eat all the healthy food in the world and still find yourself sick. Oh and I feel quite entitled to eat what I want thanks.

Well, I know it has aspertame (spelling?) which turns into formaldehyde when heated, so don't heat up your Diet Coke! At least this is what's been buzzing around for several years.

I used to drink 2-3 Diet Cokes per day. I quit for Lent this year, and I have lost about 5 pounds and a lot of bloat in my lower abdomen, doing nothing else to lose, and now Diet Coke does taste like insecticide to me. I've had 2 since February, and I've absolutely no urge to go back to them. Those 2 I had made me ill.

I believe they make you retain water pretty badly, so the lack of calories is offset by water retention. Someone can contradict me on that, but I think that's right.

I heard about this on the radio and it really bothers me. I have being told what to eat/what not to eat. The second I ban a food/drink, it's all I want.

As for soda, I don't drink it too often anymore (I used to years ago, but have more or less cut it out as something I consume on a weekly basis. I may have a soda once or twice a month, if that). When I do drink soda (either coke or ginger ale), I don't do diet. Diet is a migraine trigger for me. In fact, if I can catch a migraine before it starts (I don't get auras, but sometimes get an odd taste in my mouth before the pain starts), nothing works better than coke and rx strength pain killers. If my stomach is upset, I'm flying, or super nervous about something, I drink ginger ale. So all in all, I don't drink soda often.

Still, I hate the idea of banning soda/sizes of soda. When I was a kid, my family would often buy a large soda at the movies and we'd share/split it 3 ways. Way more cost effective. Now this would require individual sodas and more $$. This won't stop people from consuming larger quantities of soda, but rather it will cost more money to do so (instead of buying 1 20 oz, a person might buy 2 12oz...). I'm convinced, in the end, it's just a money making scheme.

Most of the folks I've seen buying the 32 oz and larger sizes have been teenaged boys buying mega amounts of Mountain Dew. I've rarely seen someone who needs to lose weight buying one. I have seen a person buy and consume 3 Big Macs, a supersize order of fries, and a Diet Coke.